Game theory suggests current climate negotiations won’t avert catastrophe
Math Trek
Climate treaty negotiators might be wise to have a conversation with a game theorist.
So far, negotiators’ promises to reduce greenhouse gas production have been paltry and results paltrier, as both emissions and global temperatures have risen. A new game theoretic analysis published in the Oct. 23 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences both pinpoints why negotiations have accomplished so little and suggests how the parties might achieve better results.
Since 2009, climate treaty negotiations have focused on one value: 2 degrees Celsius. If the planet warms more than this, scientists have warned, catastrophic changes may result. So negotiators have agreed to the goal of staying under this threshold.